We talk about injuries every year, but this year, it seems like the missing in action are becoming as much of a story as those in action. Dennis Pitta,Kyle Rudolph and Jonathan Stewart are merely the latest who are down for the count -- or, at least, for a substantial period of time. We could go on and on listing those who are out for the year, out for several weeks or just plain playing hurt.

Of course, this is when roster depth -- an underrated aspect of the pro game that's been highlighted in the salary-cap era, which, by the way, started 20 years ago -- comes into play. That said, the byes begin this weekend. One week off might not be enough time to get fully healthy, but it will allow some teams to get healthy enough.

Speaking of depth, the new No. 1 in our rankings is a team that has shown it has more than enough, accounting for losses in free agency (Michael Johnson, among others), as well as early injury woes (to solid contributors like Marvin Jones and Tyler Eifert). If, in fact, you take issue with the Stripes batting leadoff, hit us with your gripes: @HarrisonNFL is the place.

Cincinnati earned the top spot by virtue of having a defense that allows just 11 points per game, a quarterback who has made few mistakes and isn't asked to put everything on his shoulders and a running attack that is grinding out 121.7 yards per contest. Survey says ...
#2013Seahawks2.0

RANK

2

3-0EAGLES

1

Do you realize the
Eagles are averaging 24.7 points per game this season --
in the second half alone? Here's an even more remarkable stat: Philadelphia is the first team in NFL history to start a season 3-0 after being down 10-plus points in all three games. Impressive that this team also seems to win when
Nick Foles doesn't play at his best, the secondary falters (which happens often) or the run game fails (which almost never happens, but did Sunday, when Philly averaged 2.2 yards per carry
against the Redskins).

RANK

3

3-0CARDINALS

2

What a victory.What a victory. Let me say it again: What a non-loss! I mean, you'd think Arizona would have dropped at least one of the games
Drew Stanton has started at quarterback, considering he was thrown into the role
in New York in Week 2, then faced a tough NFC West opponent in the Niners, who, entering Sunday's contest in Glendale, had lost just once to the
Cardinals since 2008. The Cards went 9-for-14 on third and fourth downs against San Francisco. That wins games.

What
was enjoyable: Watching the Bolts go vertical. Makes the game fun and forces the defense to play the entire field. #Rivers4MVP?

RANK

5

2-1SEAHAWKS

2

Nice, resilient showing for the
Seahawks, who found a way to prevail after their own sloppy play and the refs' failure to call offensive pass interference allowed the
Broncos to even things up
in Seattle on Sunday. (Personally, I think
Julius Thomas should've been allowed to put a
Seahawks corner in a sleeper hold so that
Wes Welker could run unabated and uncovered, but I digress ...)

Ugly victory. Of course, those still count. It's OK for people to call Sunday's win over the
Raiders an escape. It's also safe to question the
Patriots' offense, specifically
Tom Brady's play. New England is getting
nada downfield; the Pats' "long" play of the day went for all of 22 yards. We did have a
Danny Amendola sighting, though! (It was a drop in the end zone.)

RANK

8

2-1BEARS

3

Nice road win, even if it looked like neither team wanted it there for a while. Not sure how many of you are on LinkedIn ... but if you know any defensive backs looking for work, pass their profiles along to the
Bears' coaching staff, because they are seriously hurtin' for some healthy bodies. My intuition tells me
Marc Trestman is more of a Myspace guy.

RANK

9

2-1RAVENS

5

Baltimore gets out of Cleveland
with the close win and will keep plodding along, despite the lack of a dominant defender or someone who is clearly the man in the running game.

This week, the role of
Justin Forsett and
Bernard Pierce was filled by rookie running back
Lorenzo Taliaferro. Who hasn't heard of him? In case you were wondering, Taliaferro was
a feared Chanticleer in college; he's also a Capricorn and loves kittens. OK, I made that last part up ... but he
did gain 5.1 yards per carry on 18 totes Sunday.

RANK

10

2-1FALCONS

5

The Falcons' complete domination of the Buccaneers on Thursday night merits a solid jump in the rankings, even if Tampa Bay's offense serves as its opponents' defense ... which is to say, Atlanta didn't have to do much in this game. The
Falcons' attack is going to be a tough out for anyone visiting the Georgia Dome; still, I don't believe they'll win more than nine games this year.

On another note, I
did wonder if the NFL record for points scored by a single team in a game -- held by the
Bears for their 73-0 shellacking of the
Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship -- was in danger. Holy cow. Did anyone else at least think about it?
(@HarrisonNFL)

RANK

11

2-1BILLS

2

Yep, the
Billstopped the Bears in Week 1 and now rank below them. But the simple fact of the matter is, Buffalo was soundly defeated
at home on Sunday, while Chicago's only loss so far is that overtime squeaker to start the season. Also, the
Bears' weakness -- their defense -- seems to have at least been partially fixed, whereas the
Bills are still having trouble getting the ball vertical. Frankly,
EJ Manuel just isn't an accurate passer at this point in his career, at least not consistently.

Read that stat again. It took Pittsburgh just 34 carries to get there, too, meaning the squad did what it will need to do to stay in the AFC North race, i.e., it didn't put
everything on the quarterback. Speaking of,
what a clutch throw by
Ben Roethlisberger on his first touchdown pass of the evening to
Antonio Brown. #droppindimes

Ah, ain't it good to have a nice, warm bowl of gumbo after a win? There's a Cajun place in Hermosa Beach that serves up New Orleans food, and I thought about the transplanted
Saints fans who might've sauntered in for some shrimp creole to celebrate the team's
return to relevance Sunday.

Tough to figure out how this club couldn't put up more than 20 on the
Vikings, or how New Orleans has started 1-2.
Drew Brees is completing 70 percent of his passes and has thrown just two picks. The ground attack is averaging 140.3 yards per game and nearly 5 yards per carry. And the offense as a whole has converted 24 of 39 third downs. Is it all on the defense,
Saints fans?
(@HarrisonNFL)

That said, as with Buffalo above, Detroit's passing attack has been less than effective.
Matthew Stafford would be the first to tell you he and his cohorts must improve.

RANK

16

1-2PACKERS

8

I'm just as shocked as you seeing the
Packers this low. But after they
were vanquished in Detroit, where everyone's "greatest quarterback of all time" failed to put many points on the board for the second time this season, it's hard to know what to do with this team.
Aaron Rodgers is indeed a fantastic player, but he produced little on Sunday; ditto for running back
Eddie Lacy, who doesn't look like himself. Of course, it all starts up front, and therein lies the problem for Green Bay.

Unlike the next few teams on our rankings, New York has yet to be blown out. Trying to pick between the
Jets,
Cowboys,
Giants,
Chiefs,
Browns and
Dolphins (Nos. 19-24) is darn near impossible. The upside? NYJ has hung with potential playoff teams
two weeksin a row, plus this group can run the football -- and stop the run, too.

It's ironic that back when the
Cowboys were considered one of the most talented teams in the NFL -- from 2007 to 2009 or so -- no one thought they had the character to overcome adversity. Today, no one thinks Dallas has a Pomeranian's chance of doing anything -- and yet, there the
Cowboys were,
pulling a victory out of their pink-bowed fur Sunday. If only they could've come back from that same deficit in
a certain playoff game 20 years ago.

That's two solid efforts in a row from these
sky-is-fallingChiefs. Simply an outstanding afternoon for the defense, which gave
Dolphins quarterback
Ryan Tannehill no room for error in
Sunday's win. Kansas City also stopped Miami on 13 of 17 third/fourth downs.

Huge drop for the
Dolphins because: A) They've been outplayed two weeks in a row; and, B) the appearance of internal combustion, starting with
criticism of defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle. Miami continued to get some pop from its rushing attack, much like it has throughout the season (especially in Week 1). Once again, though, the passing game failed to connect in
Sunday's loss. Through three games,
Ryan Tannehill has precisely zero completions of more than 30 yards.

It might have been a takedown, but it was clear
Raiders guard
Gabe Jackson beat his man at the point of attack on the run by
Darren McFadden that appeared to tie
the Raiders' matchup with the Patriots late in the fourth quarter on Sunday. Curious what the unbiased fan would say about that play, in which a touchdown was wiped out by a penalty called on Jackson. Either way, we saw a heckuva lot more fight out of this group in the loss to New England than we did
the previous week. Now we just need to see some wins.